War and Conflict Journal

Throughout April, 2011, NATO airstrikes continued to pound Libyan military positions and units, while the ground war between Gadhafi’s forces and the rebels took on a see-saw effect, as several towns and positions changed hands between them. Many outside analysts saw the war grinding into a stalemate, with Gadhafi’s forces controlling most of western Libya, while the rebels held most of eastern Libya.
In the last week of April, the United States announced the introduction of its unmanned Predator drones to the war.
On April 30, 2011, the Libyan government announced that a NATO airstrike killed Gadhafi’s youngest son, Saif al Arab Gadhafi, aged 29, and three of Gadhafi’s grandchildren. In the rebel capital of Benghazi,  celebratory gunfire erupted upon word that the younger Gadhafi’s death. The Libyan spokesman who announced Said Gadhafi’s death also claimed that the NATO strike was a failed attempt to kill the Libyan leader himself, implying that Muamar Gadhafi himself was in the house at the time of the attack.

http://www.historyguy.com/libyan_war_2011.htm

The Libyan War

 http://www.historyguy.com/libyan_war_2011.htm

Libyan rebels hoisting the pre-Gadhafi Libyan flag

The Libyan War began as a protest movement against long-time Libyan leader Colonel Muamar Gadhafi and quickly escalated into a full-scale civil war. As the Libyan government forces increased their use of deadly force on the rebels, the United Nations imposed a “No-Fly Zone” over Libya in order to “protect Libyan civilians.” The Libyan No-Fly Zone’s enforcement was undertaken by a coalition of European nations and the United States. The Libyan No-Fly Zone was begun with airstrikes and ship-borne missile strikes at Libyan air-defence installations as well as Libyan ground forces.Names of the Conflict:

The Libyan War of 2011Libyan No-Fly Zone War

Libyan Uprising of 2011

Libyan Civil War

Operational Names of Nations Intervening in Libya:

Operation Odyssey Dawn (United States)Operation Ellamy (United Kingdom)

Opération Harmattan (France)

Operation Mobile (Canada)

DATES OF CONFLICT:

BEGAN: February 15, 2011–Protests against the Libyan government began

Foreign Intervention Began: March 19, 2011

ENDED: Ongoing

 Libyan War Sources and Links:

Libya Uprising 2011–Wikipedia article

The Libyan War of 2011-Stratfor

2011 military intervention in Libya–Wikipedia article

Is It a War? Libya Terminology Is Tangled–Wall Street Journal

Events in Libya February 24, 2011:

–Forces loyal to the Libyan government counter-attacked rebels in the town of Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, and at the small airport outside Misrata, Libya’s third largest city.

–World oil prices reached $120 a barrel due to concerns over the violence in Libya and the fear of further revolt in the oil-producing regions of the Middle East.

–Gadhafi’s cousin, Gadhaf al-Dam, an aide who served as Gadhafi’s personal ambassador to other nations, defected to Egypt and denounced the Libyan dictator.

Libyan History:

http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_libya.htm

http://www.historyguy.com/libya_unrest_timeline_2011.htm

A new timeline of the unrest and the revolt in Egypt is now at http://www.historyguy.com/egypt_unrest_timeline_2011.htm

Egyptian Troops in Cairo

 Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the North African branch of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two Italians on December 18 in Mauritania, according to the Al-Arabiya TV channel, which is based in Dubai.

The abductions of the Italians are similar to the way three Spaniards were seized  in late November, 2009   by al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.

 Over the past two year,  al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb claimed a series of attacks in Mauritania, including the assassination in late 2007 of four French citizens in Aleg (about 150 miles east of the capital of Nouakchott) and an American in June in Nouakchott.

al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

Mauritania’s military suffered three dead in a clash with Islamic rebels in the north, near the Algerian border. This clash comes soon after the murders of French tourists in Mauritania. The killers of the tourists are known to be connected to the rebel group formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). The GSPC recently changed its name to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and has declared its allegiance to the main branch of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda.

Most mass media news outlets refer to the al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb as al Qaeda in North Africa.

See: Three Mauritanian soldiers killed in desert clash–Reuters UK, Dec. 27, 2007